Ma, Pa, and Brudda
by choirnerd98
Summary: When Romeo has a bad nightmare, Crutchie comforts him. But does Crutchie know more about Romeo's past than he lets on?
1. crying

So yay for uploading my first fic ever. Um okay let's see what is my clever disclaimer? Hmmm...ah here we go. I do not own anything except for my sleep deprived brain and the tablet in my hand which is actually my mom's. If I did own Newsies, Andrew, Andy, and Zachary would all simultaneously be on stage together.

* * *

Crutchie woke up to the sounds of someone crying. He quickly picked up his crutch and hobbled over to Romeo's bed.

"Mark, no! Mark, don't leave me!" Romeo started to thrash around.

"Romeo, Romeo, wake up." He gently rocked Romeo awake.

"Crutchie?"

"Yeah. It's okay, youse was just havin a bad dream." Romeo shook his head back and forth as tears started forming in his eyes again.

"No, no, it was real and it..." Romeo started shaking with silent sobs and buried his head into his arms.

Crutchie sat down next to Romeo and gathered the boy into his arms.

"Okay, you wanna talk about it?"

Romeo started to shake his head but then decided against it. "One day, when I was real young my brotha, Mark, was walkin home with me when a man came up to us. I didn't know who he was but my brudda told me to run home and not to stop till I got there. So I did, but when I got home, I couldn't find my ma or pa and I got real scared."

Romeo rubbed his eyes and scooted closer to Crutchie.

"Then there was a knock at the door and I thought it was my brudda, but when I opened the door, it was an officer. And he told me that, uh...he uh told me that my ma and pa and brudda wouldn't be comin home again, eva."

Crutchie squeezed Romeo as the younger boy buried his face in Crutchie's chest. He rubbed Romeo's back until he heard his breathing slow down.

"Hey, remember how the nuns is always tellin us that we's is gonna go ta heavan when we die?" Romeo nodded.

"Well, I betcha thatcha ma and pa and brudda are all up there together havin a party. And when youse goes there they're gonna be real proud of ya and real happy that you can finally have fun with dem again."

"Really?"

"Absolutely, but until then, youse got us and you'll always be a part of this family too. Okay?"

"Okay." Romeo said as he nodded off to sleep, finally at peace.

Crutchie tucked Romeo into his bed and hopped out to the fire escape. Looking up at the night sky, he pulled out a picture of a young man with dark black hair and piercing eyes. Crutchie sighed and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I promise I'll look afta him, Mark."

* * *

I hope that was okay. Please R/R (what does the second r stand for?) If anyone has read all the way down here and would like something related to this story just let me know. I am now going to write a comedic fic about Davey getting high for the first time!


	2. Knocking

Charlie woke up to the sound of Someone knocking on his front door. Grumbling, he walked to the front of the apartment and threw open the door.

"Hello, are you Charlie?"

"Yes sir," he responded.

The officer that had woken Charlie up, gravely nodded his head and rubbed his chin as he kneeled down so that Charlie didn't have to look up at him.

"I hate to have to tell you this, but..." The officer sighed and took a deep breath. "The factory that your father worked in collapsed. There are no survivors."

Charlie pushed past the officer and ran down the street. He ran through the city until he arrived at a pile of rubble; a pile that he knew contained his father. He couldn't believe his eyes, he was free. After twelve years of that man beating him and blaming him for his mama's death, he was free. He felt the weight of the world lifting at his shoulders, until he remembered who else had worked in this building. His body was ahead of his mind and had already started running to where he knew he could find his best friend, Mark.

Mark was almost skipping down the street, he was so happy. He had finally convinced Janey Marstow to kiss him. He hopped onto a bench and waved at his little brudda.

"Hiya, Mark! Why is youse so happy?"

"Romeo, have you eva kissed a girl?"

Mark laughed at the way Romeo cringed.

"Ewww! No, I don't want to catch their cuties!"

"Haha, well some day, when youse older, you'll catch a girls cooties, and you'll smile like this too."

Mark reached over and ruffled Romeo's hair, as Romeo stuck his tongue out in disgust.

"Ready to go home?"

Romeo nodded his head and grabbed his brother's hand. They walked down through the park, Mark occasionally swinging Romeo by his arm. They had just reached the edge of the park when Charlie came up to Mark. It only took Mark a second to realize that something was very clearly wrong.

"Mark, we need to talk," Charlie leaned in and whispered.

"Hey, buddy, I need you to do me a huge favor. Run home as fast as you can, and don't stop until you get there, okay?"

Romeo nodded his head and took off running.

"Charlie, what's wrong?"

"Mark, the building your parents work in..."

Mark nodded his head, encouraging Charlie to keep going.

"It collapsed. Nobody got out."

Mark staggered back, then took off running the same way Charlie had just come from.

When Charlie caught up to Mark, they were already standing in front of the police line. He reached over and put a hand on Mark's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, th..."

"No, it..they're wrong!" Mark shook off Charlie's hand and ducked under the tape. "Mark," Charlie followed after him," don't do this. The pol..."

"No! They're wrong!" Mark cried, desperately trying to move away the stones and scaffolding. Charlie bent down to help him, and pushed a rock aside.

"Charlie, watch out!" Charlie felt Mark push him out of the way. He fell to the ground, and felt a blinding pain in his leg. He opened his eyes and saw a piece of steel crushing his leg. Charlie heard a moan next to him and looked down to see Mark trapped under a pile of concrete.

"Mark? Mark!? Help!" Charlie kept yelling until Mark grabbed his hand.

"Charlie, look at me." Mark whispered, his voice rough and rushed.

"Mark, I'm so sorry. Just hold on a little bit longer. I'll go get someone to help us."

"Charlie, stop. I'll be fine, but there's one thing I need ya to do."

"What is it?"

"Look afta my brudda. Make sure he doesn't starve and that he has somewhere to sleep at night."

"Mark, stop. We'll get you outta-"

"Charlie, please, promise me. I need to know that he'll be okay."

Charlie brushed the dark hair away from Mark's face and looked into his piercing eyes. Brushing away his tears he said,"I promise I'll look after him, Mark."

So that was like sad. But my best friend in the whole world got me a newsies cap today for my birthday, and I am super happy. Huge shout out to my #1/maybe only fan Biankies, because without her, this chapter wouldn't be anything so thanks , hon ;-) . I seem to be getting the ideas for this story like star wars style so whatever comes next. Also might update first day or write about Davey teaching Les to drive a stick shift. Goodnight beautiful people/ good morning Biankies(maybe I don't know what the time difference is)


	3. Promise

So yay for this story getting another follower. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I don't own Newsies. If I did,(insert your own because I can't think of anything right now)

Charlie picked up the crutch that the rescue workers had given him. He took a deep breath and hobbled his way towards a young boy who was unsuccessfully trying to court an elderly lady. He watched as the lady pinched his cheeks and walked away. Taking another deep breath and looking up at the sky, Charlie limped forward to fulfill his promise.

"Hey, Romeo, whatcha doin over here instead of bein in school?"

"How do ya know my name?"

"I was just callin ya watcha actin like. I'm stating the obvious."

"Oh okay. Hi, I'm Romeo and you must be Crutchie."

Charlie chuckled at the boy's new nickname. He liked it.

"So, Romeo, what are you doin out here and not in school?"

"The school said I couldn't go there anymore because of money. And I've been real sad lately, but my brudda told me that if I kissed a girl, that I would be happy. So, I've been tryin all day, but it hasn't worked very well yet."

"Oh, I see. Well if ya can't go to school anymore, then how bout gettin a job?"

"I'm not very strong, and I don't eva wanta go in a factory again."

"Well, I was thinking that you could be a newsboy."

"Ooh, my brudda used ta talk to a newsboy while Ise played in the park."

Charlie briefly smiled, thinking of the long and easy conversations he had had with Mark while the little kid was swinging around in the trees nearby.

"Really, do youse rememba what he looked like?"

"Na, his face was always too dark to see. It made him look scary, like you."

Charlie had to take a second to understand what the boy was saying, then he reached up and turned his hat around.

"Is this betta?"

Romeo smiled and shook his head.

"Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"

Just like Charlie expected, Romeo shook his head and dropped his smile.

"Well, how about ya stay with me."

"Okay, but I don't have any money."

"Most of the kids don't."

Charlie slowed down his walking to let the younger boy catch up.

"Where do ya live?"

"Right there," Charlie said, pointing down the street to a tall building. "The Newsboys Lodging House."

Alright, there you go. If you didn't catch on, this is my reasoning for why Romeo is always chasing after girls and why Crutchie wears his hat backwards oh and obviously how he got his nickname. I'm already working on another chapter and I already have an idea for another one after that, but that may be it for this story but probably not, I don't know. Well, its actually only 131 PM MST so, goods night, good morning, and good everything in between.


	4. Coughing

Ah so this is obviously another chapter. Um it is obviously out of order, but the whole story us sooooooo sorry about that. Um I don't own Newsies. I haven't even seen it live. I'm just gonna start the story now.

Crutchie woke up to the sound of coughing. Most of the boys were already up and about. He hopped out of bed and walked over to Romeo.

"Hey, buddy. Are ya sick?"

Romeo opened his mouth to respond but suddenly shoved past Crutchie and ran into the bathroom.

"Well, I guess that answers that question." Crutchie muttered to himself as he made his way into the bathroom. He quickly found Romeo bent over one of the toilets.

"Hey, buddy, youse betta stay here today."

Romeo just nodded as Crutchie helped him back to his feet. Crutchie half carried the kid back to his own bed.

"Crutchie, this isn't my bed." Romeo muttered half asleep already.

"Ya, I know. But mine is closer to the bathroom, so you can just stay here for the day." Crutchie tucked the younger boy into bed and felt his forehead. A frown occupied his face as he took notice of Romeo's abnormally high temp. He shook it off. He couldn't have any distractions if he was going to sell both his and Romeo's papes and make it back to nurse the other boy. He quickly bought his papes and made it to his regular selling spot.

"Trolley workers unhappy. Union formed!"

Romeo woke up around noon. It was amazing what a few hours of sleep and throwing up could do for a person. He stretched out on Crutchie's bed and accidently knocked the pillow to the floor. He was just about to put it back on the bed when he noticed a familiar picture sitting on the bed. It may have been four years, but he would never forget what his brother looked like. The only question was, why did Crutchie have a picture of him under his pillow?

Crutchie was exhausted. He had sold a hundred papes and it was only two. He slowly made his way up the stairs and quietly limped into the bunk room thinking that Romeo was still asleep. Instead he found a very awake Romeo sitting on his bed staring at a picture. Before Crutchie could ask Romeo what he was looking at, Romeo looked up at Crutchie with puffy red eyes.

"Crutchie, why do you have this picture?"

Crutchie stared at the picture. He couldn't seem to think of an answer.

"Crutchie, why is a picture of my brudda under your pillow? How do you know Mark?!" Romeo was now standing in front of Crutchie, his nostrils flaring.

"Romeo, I... I didn't want to tell you..."

"Tell me! Tell me what? What don't I know?"

Crutchie took a deep breath and tried to calm Romeo down.

"I knew your brudda. He was my best friend."

Romeo's eyes grew in shock and he sank down onto the bed.

"You knew? You knew all along and you Neva told me?"

Crutchie sat down next to Romeo and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought it would be betta that way."

Romeo shook Crutchie's hand off and angrily stood up.

"What?! You didn't think it would help to have someone who knew my brudda?! You didn't think it would help to have someone there to help?!" Romeo shouted as he ran towards the door.

"Romeo! Wait!" Crutchie heard the door downstairs shut and quickly grabbed his crutch, hobbling after him.

It didn't take Crutchie long to find Romeo.

"You were the last thing he thought about."

Romeo broke the silent vigil he was keeping at his brother's grave. "What?"

"You were the last thing he talked about. He asked me to make sure you were okay."

Romeo still hadn't turned around to face Crutchie.

"You were with him when he...?"

"Ya, he saved my life. Pushed me out of the way of a rock slide."

"How long did you know him?" Romeo asked, slowly turning around.

"Since you were about five."

"Three years?"

"Three years. I promised him that I would watch over you. It was no small accident I found you that day."

Romeo smiled as he thought back to the day he became a newsboy.

"Wait, the newsboy in the park? Was that...no it couldn't have been...his name was Charlie and you're name is-"

Realization dawned on Romeo's face.

"Wait, the man that day?"

Crutchie nodded his head in confirmation.

"I know you might not think so, but I was always there to help, and I will always be there to help you." Crutchie threw his arm around Romeo's shoulder and Romeo leaned against him.

"Thanks, Charlie." Romeo said with a smirk as he turned Crutchie's hat around.

So, I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you understood the subtle timing thing I slipped in. Hint: Look at the headline! Um pretty please review. I have another idea spinning out already. I actually just finished writing I Will Always Be There so this sleepless night has been productive. If I was thinking, I would have posted something about Mark and Charlie because it was best friends day like an hour and a half ago. I'm going to go write some more. It's 1:37 AM MST so good night, good morning, and good everything in between.


	5. Thrashing

I don't own Newsies. Enjoy.

...,...,.

Romeo woke up the sound of someone thrashing around in their bed. It didn't take him long to find the source of the disturbance. He quickly jumped out of his bed and ran over to Crutchie.

"Crutchie. Crutchie, wake up!"

Crutchie shot straight up, his breathing uneven and his eyes wide. Romeo grabbed his face and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Crutchie, you're okay. You're fine. You're in the lodging house. You're safe."

Crutchie's breathing slowed down as the terror in his eyes receded.

"Thanks, Romeo, I'm fine"

"Crutch, you're not okay. You've been taking care of me for years now. Can I please return the favor for a night?"

Crutchie bashfully nodded his head as Romeo sat down next to him.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"It was the refuge."

Romeo nodded his head, having expected this. He placed a comforting arm around Crutchie's shoulders.

"It was the night you snuck in. I tried to stop one of the guards from hittin a little kid. He went and got Snyda..."

Romeo pulled Crutchie in tighter as he started to shiver.

"And, Well, you've seen the scars on Jack's back."

Crutchie didn't say anything else. He didn't need to, Romeo heard him loud and clear already. Romeo rocked Crutchie back and forth until he fell back asleep. Romeo tucked him back into his blanket and quietly got back into his own bed. It wasn't long before he passed out too.

...,...

Ya, so Romeo snuck into the refuge. I'm not sure when or how yet but I'm sure I'll find out soon. I'm going to go write an extension of a one shot now um I just updated Chemistry soi go check it out. It's 1:56 AM MST, so good night, good morning, and good everything in between.


	6. Jumping

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh here is the update! I don't what that first sound was for. I don't own Newsies, if I did, idk because Newsies is poifect! See you after the story.

* * *

Mark woke up as something fell on top of him.

"Mark! Mark, wake up! Mark...are you dead!"

Mark felt a mop of long hair cover his face as an ear pressed against his nose.

"Boo!"

Romeo started to shriek with laughter as Mark ran his fingers up and down his sides.

"Stop! Stop! Eeeh stop, stop! I'm gonna pee!"

"Oh, really. Well what about these pink little toes?"

Mark pulled his little brother onto his lap and started to tickle his toes. Romeo desperately tried to escape.

"Ahhhhh! Stop! Stop! Eeeeeeh!"

Mark threw his head back and chuckled until he felt something warm spreading around his lap. He slowly looked down at Romeo's guilty face.

"I told you."

Mark grimaced and lifted Romeo onto his feet.

"Alright, well I guess we'd betta go get cleaned up."

After Mark got himself and Romeo all cleaned up, he quickly got his little brother changed and out the door.

"Hurry buddy, we're gonna be late."

Romeo quickly ran over and latched onto Mark's hand. The pair jogged to Romeo's school and made it just in time.

"Okay, hurry and get to class. I'll see you after school. Have fun!"

Romeo gave Mark a quick hug and ran through the doors. Mark looked down at his watch. He had ten minutes until his courses started. He took off running, and ran straight into a newsboy.

"Hey, kid! Watch it! What the hell do ya think ya doin? Ya almost made me drop all my papes!"

Mark cowered and closed his eyes as the older boy pulled his fist back.

"Hey, Tracks! I brought cha some coffee."

Mark slowly backed up as a sandy haired boy handed the huge older kid a cup.

The boy roughly took the cup of coffee and nodded his head in gratitude.

"Youse is lucky that I got my coffee now, so I won't break yo legs."

Mark let out a huge breath as the large boy walked away.

"Hey, kid, thanks."

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I promise, Tracks is a really great guy once he gets a cup of coffee."

"Well, thanks fow ya help. I gotta get to school."

Mark sprinted down the street and slipped into his classroom as the bell rang.

* * *

Mark looked up at the clock: five minutes. He hated his class. His teacher was always so monotone, and none of the kids talked to him, so it pretty much sucked. He wistfully looked out the window and saw a newsboy hawking the headline. Mark put his head down on the deck, but quickly sat up and looked back at the newsboy. It was the same one that had the coffee this morning. He stared at the boy until he walked away. It was infinitely more interesting than class.

* * *

"Hi, Mark!"

Romeo ran out of school and jumped onto his brothers back.

"Umph! Hey, buddy. What do ya wanna do?"

"Can we go to da park?"

"Sure."

Romeo bounced along next to Mark and talked about his day.

"Then, he ate the goldfish!"

"Wait, Joey ate the class fish?"

"Ya, in one bite!"

"Wow!"

Mark sat down on some grass as Romeo started climbing a tree.

"Make sure ta be safe!"

"Okay!"

Mark stretched out on the grass and closed his eyes, enjoying the cloud cover.

"Nice day."

Mark shot up in surprise, only to find the blond newsboy sitting next to him.

"It sure is...um, are you followin me or somethin? I mean I saw ya sellin some papes outside my school earlier and now ya here."

"Na, I'm not followin ya, I've always sold here."

"Really? I've neva notices ya before."

"Maybe I'm like a bug bite. I'm no botha, until ya find out about me, then ya can neva not notice me."

"Ya, maybe. I'm Mark, by the way."

"Charlie"

Charlie reached up and wiped some sweat off of his forehead.

"Man, I wish I had known what the weatha was gonna be like. I wouldn't have worn so much if I had known it was gonna be this hot."

"Oh, tellin' the weatha is easy. Do this." Mark bent his knee, then straightened it out again. "Ya feel that little crick? That means that it's gonna be cloudy but not rainy. Each weather set has its own feeling."

Charlie copied the movement and nodded his head. "Interesting."

"So how come you ain't in school? You look like my age."

"Well, I'm nine, but my pops think I'm useless unless I'm makin him money."

"Oh, I'm nine years old too. That's to bad about ya pa."

"What about you? Do ya got any family?"

"Ya, I've got a ma, pa, and brudda."

* * *

Hello, again. Hello, again. Ha-ha sorry it took me so long to update but I hope you enjoyed it. I honestly had so many places I was about to stop but I was like no it's not ready yet. So it officially less than a year until Newsies comes to my local theater and I am counting down the days! I'm going to shout out Biankies because she gives me life! Also, I realized I haven't reviewed her stories so... She is an amazing comedy writer. I was taking a driving lesson and I started thinking about the story with Mush and Blink. I ended up laughing so hard that the driving instructor made me pull over to the side of the road. You should go read her stories. It's pretty early! It's 1037 PM MST. So goodnight, Good morning, and good everything in between!


	7. Groaning

Here is another chapter. I won't bore you with a long intro. I don't own Newsies. If I did, I would be playing Crutchie in Africa next year.

* * *

Tiny woke up to the sound of groaning. "Crutchie? Crutchie, are you okay?"

"Ugh, ya I'm fine."

"Hey, Jack came by the window earlier. We told him youse couldn't come to da window cause youse was sleepin'."

"Wait, Jack came by?"

Tiny vigorously shook his head.

"Aw, man. He's probably worrin' bout me now. I gotta tell him I'm okay!"

"Crutchie, calm down! Youse is gonna wake everyone up. And how is youse plannin' to tell him somethin'?"

"I'll write him a letter."

"How do ya plan to get him a letter?"

"I don't know, but I'll figure it out."

"Whateva. I'm goin ta bed."

* * *

Crutchie blew out the candle and heard a knock.

"Crutchie? Crutchie!? Are you in here?"

"Romeo?" Crutchie jumped off his bunk and limped over to the window.

"Oh my God! Crutchie, what did they do to you?" Romeo's eyes started to water as he got a full look at Crutchie's injuries.

"Romeo, Ise is fine. But you can't be here. What if they catcha?"

"Crutchie, stop worryin bout me. You look like youse is almost dead."

Romeo reached a hand through the bars and grabbed onto Crutchie's hand.

"Crutchie, don't worry we'll get youse outta here."

"I'm fine. Dontcha worry about me."

"Crutchie…Charlie, stop. Please, stop. You don't have ta pretend anymore."

Crutchie looked into Romeo's all-to-knowing eyes. Tears escaped down his face.

"Romeo, I don't know if I can keep goin' in here. It's so hard…"

Romeo squeezed the older boy's hand and tilted his face back up.

"Hey, you know Mark used ta talk to me about how strong you were…are. I know you can make it through this, but if ya don't believe me, believe Mark."

Crutchie rested his forehead on their intertwined hands. Both boys jumped up as a footsteps started down the hall.

"Leave quickly!" Crutchie quickly let go of Romeo's hand and handed him the letter. "Give this ta Jack for me."

Romeo tossed the letter down to Specs and swung down the ladder.

Crutchie breathed a sigh of relief as the silhouettes of the two boys jumped over the gate.

"What, exactly are you doing by the window, Little Man?"

Crutchie shivered at the feeling of Snyder's ice cold breath on the back of his neck.

"J-Just lookin' at da moon, sssir."

"Ah, yes, the moon. Well, I think you've seen it enough. Why don't you turn around and look at me?"

Crutchie turned around and was greeted to the sight of Snyder grinning with his cane raised above his head. He closed his eyes and braced for the hit.

"Sir, please. He is very hoit already."

Crutchie opened his eyes and saw Tiny carefully approaching Snyder.

"I don't believe I asked for your opinion, boy. What's your name?"

"T-t-t-t-Tiny, sir!" The little boy trembled as Snyder approached him.

"No! What's your real name?"

"I don't know?"

"What kind of child doesn't know his own name? Are you an idiot?"

Crutchie felt something inside him break as Snyder started to swing his cane towards the small boy.

"Stop!" Crutchie surged forward and blocked the cane.

Snyder turned towards him with a murderous rage in his eyes. Crutchie yelped as Snyder grabbed his collar and dragged him out of the room.

"If you would like to take your little friend's place, then so be it." Snyder growled as he tied Crutchie's wrists to a post.

He quickly walked over to a crate and grabbed a whip. Crutchie whimpered and closed his eyes.

 _I believe you, Mark. I can get through this._

* * *

Whoo, that was sad. Alright, I think honestly I might be at the end of this story, but if there is something that you need to know about that I missed, leave a review and I will keep writing. I might think of something anyway, but if you have a burning idea, please share it. Also, a quick thank you to everyone that prayed for my grandpa. His results came back and instead of us having to just wait for him to die or instead of him having to go through a very high risk surgery which were the two options that we had pretty much narrowed it down to, the tumor in his kidney is not going to grow nor is it cancerous. So, he will not have to undergo any operation, and is not at risk of dying from the tumor anymore, so from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Alright, it's 12:13 AM MST, so goodnight, goodmorning, and good everything in-between!


	8. Screaming

Just the standard, I don't own Newsies.

Jack woke up to the sound of little boys screaming. It was not an uncommon sound in the lodging house. He rolled out of bed, groaning. He started walking down the stairs, but paused when all of the noise suddenly stopped. He waited a second until the chatter started again. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he finally saw what the commotion was about. Charlie was standing in the doorway, a little kid by his side.

"What's his name?"

"How old is he?"

"Where did ya find him?"

"Are we gonna keep him?"

"BOYS!" The rapid fire questioning quickly stopped.

"Thanks, Jack. Boys, this is Romeo. He is gonna be staying with us, and he is poifectly capable of answering the questions himself."

"How did cha get here?"

"Crutchie found me and told me I could stay with him."

"Crutchie?" The younger boys all looked around, slightly confused.

Crutchie quickly caught Jack's eye and gave him a pleading look.

"Hey, Crutchie. How abouts we go and talk on da roof."

Crutchie nodded his head and started pushing through the group of boys who had all looked back at Romeo; Charlie's sudden name change already forgotten. He sat down on a crate as Jack pulled up his cot.

"So, Crutchie?"

"Ya...the kid gave me that name and I would prefer if he didn't know my real name."

Jack chuckled and nodded his head.

"Alright, so is this the kid that..."

"Ya, it is."

"Crutchie, why is youse so stressed?"

"It's just I've been so worried that somethin happened to him."

"Don't worry about it. He was only missing fow like two days and he's here now."

Crutchie nodded his head and smiled his head.

"He'll be fine now. He's part of our family now, and a family looks out for each other."

The end. I hope you enjoyed this story. A huge thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited/followed and honestly just a huge thank you to everyone who read this all the way through at all. It was my month anniversary on FanFiction. Net yesterday and this was my first story ever and it is awesome the amount of support I have already gotten. Just to finish off this story, if you have an Instagram, please for the next few weeks, use the hashtag, #loveoverlikes. Every time this is used, a dollar will be donated to Girls for a Change which is an organization for girls to create strong bonds with each other and work together for social change. Then tag me in it mtn_ for no actual reason other than I'll follow you but that's more of a I wanna broaden my horizons kinda thing. It is not night, so for the last time(in this story) it's 4:44 PM MST, so goodnight, goodmorning, and great everything in between!


	9. The End

Hello. I know I said I was done with this story but apparently not. I don't own Newsies. If I did ... 3 words ... Newsies Christmas Album.

* * *

Crutchie squeezed Romeo's hand tighter as a round of coughing racked his body.

"Crutchie, do you need…anything?" Jack asked cautiously.

"A new set of lungs if you can find a pair!" Crutchie joked, attempting to lighten the mood. Nobody laughed.

Romeo looked around the room at all the familiar faces that he hadn't seen in months: Jack, Specs, Race, everybody was here. Tears were already streaming down the boys' faces, the idea of losing their crutch completely unbearable.

"Fellas," Crutchie started. "I'll be fine. Rememba what da nuns are always sayin'. I'm gonna go to heaven and I'll be waiting there for you."

Romeo smiled remembering all the times Crutchie had comforted the boys in lodging house with the same sentence.

"Crutchie, please don't leave. This world is too hard to go through alone. I've already lost my wife. I can't lose my brother too."

"Jack I will never leave you, remember?" Crutchie reached out and placed his hand on Jack's chest. "Right here. I'll be in your heart, now and forever."

Jack nodded and bit his lip, unsuccessfully trying to keep his tears at bay.

"Romeo?"

"Ya, Crutchie?"

"I need you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"Look after my brudda. I need to know that he'll be okay."

Romeo started crying again, absolutely positive that those had been his brother's last words. "I promise I'll look after him, Charlie."

Crutchie nodded and closed his eyes, finally at peace.

"Say Hi to Mark for me."

* * *

I'm literally so sorry, but I cried writing this if that makes you feel any better. I promise I will at some point write all those other stories I said I would write. It is 2:47 AM MST on Christmas Eve morning so Merry Christmas, good night, good morning, and good everything in-between.


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